Introduction to read on stage
Emcee introduction
About 30 seconds
Our next speaker has spent more than thirty years shipping product. He started as a software engineer at Microsoft in 1989 and became Chief Software Architect at Microsoft Research. He has been a Chief Product Officer four times, including at Commure, the healthcare AI platform that merged with Athelas at a six billion dollar valuation, and he has four startup exits. Today he is the founder of Falkster.AI and the author of The PM Standard. Please welcome Falk Gottlob.
Pronunciation: Falk GOTT-lobe.
Bios
One line
Agenda, app listing
Falk Gottlob is founder of Falkster.AI, author of The PM Standard, and a four-time Chief Product Officer.
Short bio
About 60 words
Falk Gottlob is founder of Falkster.AI, which builds Heidi, the company brain for AI-native businesses, and author of The PM Standard. He has been Chief Product Officer four times, including at Commure, Crisis Text Line, and SOCi, and led product and engineering at Microsoft Research, Salesforce, and Adobe. He has four startup exits, including the $6B Commure and Athelas merger in 2023.
Longer bios and key facts are in the press kit.
Headshot
High-resolution and landscape versions on request.
Program descriptions
Stop Piloting. Start Operating.
About 60 words
Most companies are running AI pilots; few have changed how work gets done. Falk Gottlob, four-time Chief Product Officer and founder of Falkster.AI, shows what separates the two: decision rights, workflows, and what managers are for. Leaders leave with three operating-model moves and a 90-day test for whether their transformation is real.
Your Next Teammate Isn’t Human
About 60 words
AI agents are moving from answering questions to doing work, and every team is about to change shape. Falk Gottlob, who runs his own company with AI agents as teammates, shows which work moves to software first, what managers are for when part of the team is code, and how to grow talent when entry-level work is automated.
Adoption Is a People Problem
About 60 words
Companies buy AI and wonder why usage flatlines. Falk Gottlob, four-time Chief Product Officer, shows that the blockers are human: fear, incentives, and leaders who delegate AI instead of using it. Attendees leave knowing how to surface the quiet reasons people don't adopt, and how to make experimenting safe.
Full outlines, takeaways, and formats are on the speaking page.
AV and stage
- Wireless lavalier or headset microphone (Falk moves; a fixed podium mic does not work).
- HDMI or USB-C input for Falk's laptop at the stage, or slides loaded on the show machine as a 16:9 deck.
- Wireless presenter clicker.
- Confidence monitor facing the stage, if the venue has one.
- A 20-minute tech check before doors, or during the prior break.
- Water on stage.
What Falk asks of hosts
- Two or three short calls with people who will be in the room, two to three weeks before the event, so the examples are theirs.
- Permission to record, or a copy of the session recording, for Falk's own site.
- Two or three stage photos he can use with credit.
- A 15-minute debrief call afterward: what landed, and what would have made it better.
Logistics contact
Travel is from the San Francisco Bay Area. For dates, travel, and production questions, email Falk directly.
falk@falkster.com